Disturbance
by xfirefly9x
Summary: Simon, Jayne, River, Book. Jayne is hearing things. Or is he?


**Disturbance**

Prompt: #104. There starts to become this huge problem on Serenity. One word: RATS. (Gen).

Notes: Written for the Back to Firefly challenge. A huge thanks to browncoat2x2 for the beta!

"Eek! Eek!"

"What the ruttin' hell was that?" Jayne jumped up from his place at the table and spun so that he was facing in the direction that the noise had come from. A slightly disturbed expression had plastered itself onto his face and his brow furrowed in intense determination to seek out the noise bearer.

Simon eyed the big mercenary in amusement, as did Shepherd Book who was occupying the seat next to him. "I'm sure it's nothing, Jayne," Simon stated calmly. He leaned across the table to collect all of their playing cards and began to shuffle them, almost absentmindedly

"Most likely it's just a rusty engine part that needs oiling," Book added reassuringly. "Best tell Kaylee so that she can get onto that, in case it proves to be something a mite more serious than I presume it is." He shot Jayne a soothing smile.

Jayne nodded slowly and returned to his seat. Some of the fear had dissipated from his features and Book's explanation seemed to have had a calming effect on him.

"Well? What're we waitin' for?" Jayne asked offhandedly, brushing all thoughts of the strange noise aside. "C'mon!" He rapped his hands on the table in front of him as he waited for the cards to be dealt.

Simon nodded brusquely in agreement. Then, just as the cards were about to be dealt out…

"Eek! Eek!"

Jayne jumped up again and glared at his comrades. "That ain't no rusty engine part!" he declared angrily. He stomped over towards the door of the mess and glanced around quickly as if he would be able to find the noisemaker merely by looking. Having no luck, he muttered a string of curses under his breath.

Back at the table, Simon sniggered. "Sure it is, Jayne. What else could it be? You don't suppose we have a ghost now, do you?"

Jayne's face visibly paled at that. "A…a ghost?" he stammered uneasily. His gaze shifted nervously around the room once more and then went back to the doctor. "Whadda ya mean, a ghost?" he asked, more firmly.

"Yes, Jayne. A ghost," Simon nodded in confirmation. "There is a very high possibility that Serenity is being haunted right this minute. You should probably play nice just in case. I assume that you don't want to get on any ghosts' bad side now, do you?"

Book rolled his eyes and flipped open the copy of the bible that he had brought with him. He began to read it, sensing that Simon's taunting could last awhile…

"Eek! Eek!"

"There!" Jayne yelled triumphantly. "Did ya hear it? That definitely ain't no engine part!" For the third time, he ventured around the doorway to the mess and searched for some sign of what had made the noise. Nothing.

"Well?" Simon prompted him after a few moments. "Did you find it? Does Serenity have a ghost?"

Jayne glared at him. "Ruttin' hell we do! What else could it be?" he reasoned. "Ain't no sign of anything and I ain't imagining no noises!"

"So you believe that Serenity has a ghost, Jayne?" Simon raised an eyebrow and the corner of his mouth twitched up in amusement. When he saw that Jayne was seriously considering the option, he finally broke into a fit of laughter.

"Nee ta ma duh tyen-shia suo-yo duh run doh ga sai!" Jayne cussed loudly and stomped off into the hall, spitting on the floor at the doctors' feet as he went.

Simon ignored him and continued laughing hysterically. When Jayne was gone from sight, he walked over to the kitchen, holding his sides. "River? You can come out now," he told his sister between gasps of air.

Book glanced up from reading to see what was going on. When the head of none other than River Tam popped up from behind the kitchen-counter, he got the shock of his life. "River?" he asked.

River ignored him and instead reached out her hand to give something to her brother, a mischievous glint in her eyes and a wide grin crossing her face. Simon moved to accept and Book peered over curiously to see what it was.

It was smallish and fit perfectly into the palm of River's hand. It was a greyish colour and it looked like it was made of a soft material or something similar.

It suddenly dawned on Book what had been going on between Jayne and Simon earlier and he found an amused smile forming on his face. "River? Is that a stuffed rat?" he enquired.

River just grinned wider and squeezed the soft toy. "Eek! Eek!"

Down in the hall, Jayne stopped abruptly. The terrified spark returned to his eyes and he gulped nervously, before pushing on towards his bunk. Just as he was about to climb down the ladder, he heard something much different to the squeaking noise and much more frightening…

"Jaaayne," a strangled voice cried out from behind him.


End file.
